Hydrazino adducts of chloro-substituted trichloromethyl pyridine compounds, such as 2,3,5-trichloro-4-hydrazino-6-(trichloromethyl)pyridine and similar mono-or di-chloro ring-substituted compounds are known and can be prepared according to known procedures. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,234,229. Dechlorination of a ring chlorine substituent from chloro-substituted picolinic acid compounds by treating a hydrazino adduct thereof with a base and sodium hypochlorite solution is also known in the art. See U.S. Pat. No. 3,971,799. Similarly, the ring dechlorination of chloro-substituted (trichloromethyl)pyridine compounds, such as 2,3,4,5-tetrachloro-6-(trichloromethyl)pyridine, to a 2,3,5-trichloro-6-(trichloromethyl)pyridine compound, is carried out by forming the hydrazino adduct of the tetrachloro compound and then dehydrizinating the same with a sodium hypohalite solution in the presence of a carrier medium is also known to the applicant. Applicant and another also believed that treatment of such a hydrazino adduct with a mild aqueous base in the presence of a carrier medium resulted in the removal of an additional ring chlorine substituent along with the chlorine substituent replaced by the hydrazino adduct, yielding a 2,5-dichloro-6-(trichloromethyl)pyridine compound instead of the 2,3,5-trichloro-6-(trichloromethyl)pyridine compound. However, applicant has discovered that treatment of hydrazino adducts of trichloromethylpyridine compounds with a mild base in the presence of an inert carrier medium results in the side-chain dechlorination of the trichloromethyl group, rather than the expected ring dechlorination.